THE William Cobbett Society, based in Farnham, enjoyed fine weather for its annual coach tour entitled ‘1817: The Fateful Year’.

Two hundred years ago, people were demanding wider voting rights, an end to austerity and Government corruption, and greater Parliamentary transparency – all still topical today. By 1817, this debate was turning to dangerous confrontation.

The tour followed the fortunes of five radical agitators, campaigning for reform. These were: William Cobbett, Henry ‘Orator’ Hunt, Lord Thomas Cochrane, John Goldsmith, and Richard Hinxman, all then living and farming in Hampshire.

This ‘band of brothers’ headed the Hampshire Petition to Parliament, signed on February 10, 1817, at a great public meeting, on the old Widley Fairground behind Portsmouth. Here Cobbett Society members heard readings by Richard Hinxman, a member of the Society and the great -great-great-grandson of William Cobbett’s old friend Richard Hinxman.

During the tour, descendants and namesakes of Richard Hinxman and John Goldsmith met for the first time in nearly 200 years, at the latter’s Hambledon home. Other visits included Portsdown Hill, Lord Cochrane’s estate at Holly Hill, and Cobbett’s Fairthorn estate at Botley, later farmed by Hinxman.

Morning coffee at World’s End, roast lunch at Cams Mill and a cream tea at The Bugle Inn, Botley provided sustenance, while readings from contemporary documents highlighted the reformers’ dramatic story.